


memories

by orphan_account



Category: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/F, M/M, Memories by Maroon 5, Songfic, darius misses his dad, little do they know... ben isn't dead, the characters reflect on who they've lost along the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27882574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not.---along to the lyrics of "memories" by maroon 5, the remaining campers reflect on their ordeal and the people they found (and sometimes lost) along the way.
Relationships: Kenji Kon/Ben Pincus, Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula/Sammy Gutierrez
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	memories

**Author's Note:**

> i encourage you to give a listen to the song-- memories by maroon 5-- if you haven't already. i did not line the fic up with the song, but it does set the mood and i used the lyrics in the text, so i recommend that you listen to it prior to or during reading.
> 
> some other quick notes: darius has his dino tooth necklace back. brooklynn has a working phone but no internet. ben and bumpy are still missing. the remaining five are camping out at a hotel, finally at relative safety. there is no sign of anyone coming to rescue them.
> 
> another thing: the lyrics are taken straight from the song, meaning that the songwriter used poetic license and that the grammar doesn't always look great when written down. if i tried to make it so that it was grammatically accurate, it would ruin the lyrics. sorry about that. i also edited out a lot of the choruses, since they're just repeating lyrics. if it's missing a line, it's because that line leads on to a chorus and it makes no sense without said chorus, so i had to make do without the line (e.g. "go on, raise a glass and say" because it leads on to repeat the whole stanza of "here's to the ones that we got"). 
> 
> if the fic makes no sense, that's because it was originally supposed to be a video edit. i eventually didn't make it into one, because there are already so many camp cretaceous edits on youtube (they're fantastic, go check them out) and only one season of camp cretaceous so far. that essentially means that there are less scenes to choose from and there's a high chance that there would already have been an incredibly similar edit up on youtube with a different song on it. please let me know if this fic is confusing and i'll do my best to fix it.
> 
> this should be about it for the notes. thanks for giving some of your attention to this little fic and have a great day!

The five remaining campers are seated around a small coffee table in an empty room on the hotel's highest level. The curtains are open to reveal a night sky dotted with stars, and the only lighting is a dim glow that comes from a lonely lamp on the nightstand. 

They did it.

They've survived this far. They've gotten to the safest place on the island. But the mood is far from celebratory. In fact, the expressions on the campers' faces are guarded and somber as they each reflect on the long months they've spent in constant fear, dinosaurs around every corner, sacrifices being made whether they liked it or not.

Brooklynn, in an obvious attempt to tear down the heavy curtain of silence, turns on her phone and opens her music streaming app. The blue glow of the screen shines on her face as she selects an album of pre-downloaded music for offline listening and sets the sound level to full volume.

The playlist blasts through a few upbeat pop songs, then lands on one that makes the campers really listen. The chords are vaguely familiar, instantly taking each of them back to a more peaceful time. 

**Here's to the ones that we got.**

Sammy sits beside Yasmina, neither of them speaking. Everything about Yaz is fascinating **:** her athletic capabilities, her incredible art, and, well, the fact that Yaz is beautiful and Sammy is head-over-heels for her. Sammy remembers seeing Yaz on day one and feeling compelled to talk to her, to make her smile. Sammy's friendly character and perseverance paid off, and soon Yaz and she grew close. Then everything went wrong and the amity that Sammy had worked so hard to earn slipped down the drain. It's never a good idea to be a spy for a rival company when you're trying to win the trust of someone you fancy. She hasn't blamed Yaz for feeling betrayed-- she can only imagine how the athlete must have felt when she learned that her closest camp friend was a traitor. Earning back the trust was a long process that was made harder by frequent dinosaur chases and deadly situations. But now Sammy's arm is around Yaz's shoulder, and Yaz isn't flinching away from her, and the way that Sammy glances at the track star spills all the words that she has left unspoken. _I'll stay by you through anything._ Yaz meets her eyes. _So will I._

**Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not.**

Darius traces his finger along the edge of his dinosaur tooth necklace. Memories of his dad flash through his head **:** the hours of research they'd done together, planning their future stay at Jurassic World. Studying dinosaur-identification field guides to make sure they recognized every species. Filling jar upon jar with savings, preparing for the big day. His dad starting to take frequent naps, claiming that he was tired from work. Coming home after school one day to a rushed note left behind by his mom: _Gone to the hospital. Daddy is sick. Don't be scared. We love you._ Waiting apprehensively that night for his mom to return with news about his dad, vaguely remembering a similar incident a few years ago. Hearing whispers of words that chilled him to the core: _Relapsed. Terminal. End-stage._ Getting cards from distant relatives that said _I'm sorry for your loss_ rather than _I hope Frederick gets better soon_. The moment his dad's eyes closed forever and it dawned upon Darius that they would never be able to see a real dinosaur together. 

**'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories of everything we've been through.**  
Kenji stares at the carob drink in front of him, something that he found among the endless bottles of hand sanitizer and wipes in Ben's fanny pack.  
**'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories.** **And the memories bring back, memories bring back you.**

Ben always confused Kenji. He would hide behind Kenji one moment and yell at him the next. He exceeded every expectation that Kenji subconsciously had for him. His reactions were predictable **:** a shriek of fear, the instinct to take cover-- but his actions never were **:** bursts of bravery at the most dangerous moments, compassion for helpless creatures that others would view to be monsters. Then Ben (literally) fell out of Kenji's life as fast as he had entered it, and now Kenji doesn't know what to do. Doesn't know what to do with the knowledge that he's always been a jerk to Ben and now he can't take anything back. Doesn't know what to do with the harsh reality that he left Ben behind to die alone on the jungle floor. Doesn't know what to do with the fact that he's felt more unlabeled emotions for a stranger in a week than he has for his family over his entire lifetime.

**There's a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain-- when I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same.**

Camp Cretaceous was supposed to be Brooklynn's moment of success, the top of her career. She was supposed to spend a week or two at Isla Nublar, film cool dinosaurs, and earn more fame than ever before. She laughs bitterly at how naïve she was-- she assumed that everything would flow smoothly, which could be no further from the truth. They were hardly a few days into camp when everything went wrong. She's faced death here more often than anywhere else, and that's a lot coming from a world-traveling influencer who's been in a number of risky situations for her videos. Now she's stranded on an island full of flesh-eating beasts and is unable to upload videos for a horde of judgmental followers who probably think she's dead by now-- talk about irony. Brooklynn bows her head and wonders which would be worse **:** to die at the jaws of a bloodthirsty dinosaur, or to have to face the world after a hypothetical rescue?

**Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name, 'cause I can't reach out to call you, but I know I will one day.**

Kenji's been zoning out ever since Ben's monorail fall, unable to do anything but replay the event in his head over and over again. Ben's terrified expression is imprinted in his mind, and he feels crushing guilt for being too shocked to act before Ben fell to his doom. He tells himself that it wasn't his fault, that they couldn't go back for Ben because they had to move on and save themselves. But it's not _fair_. It's not fair that Ben saved them at the cost of his own life. It's not fair that survival means leaving your favorite people behind. It's definitely not fair that they left kids to fend for their lives on a dinosaur-filled island. _But_ , Kenji thinks bitterly, _when has fairness mattered?_ He was born into wealth, while other people have to work for it. Inequality is rampant in the social hierarchy he has the privilege to sit at the top of. It's the first time he's ever really thought about it. He probably deserves this horror movie-esque punishment. But Ben doesn't. 

**Everybody hurts sometimes, everybody hurts someday.**

Yaz's life has been far from easy. Training, first of all, is hard. So is dealing with xenophobic hate for being Iranian-American. So is watching your baby sister be put in a NICU after she's born extremely prematurely at only 24 weeks old, with an iffy survival rate and a high chance of complications. Pile the Camp Cretaceous disaster on top and you've got a nice sundae of Things Yaz Wishes Were Different About Her Life. Of course, what happened with Sammy is not to be left out. Sammy's arm is around her shoulders, but Yaz still isn't completely sure if she can trust the Texan girl. Sammy might have been spying to support her family, but she still lied to all of them and took Yaz's friendship to her own advantage. Yaz cringes as she remembers standing up for Sammy, insisting that Brooklynn step down because Sammy would never steal someone's phone. Turns out that Brooklynn was right. Sammy's arm shifts, sensing Yaz's discomfort, and Yaz suddenly feels a stab of guilt. Things are hard for all of them. She puts a hand on Sammy's, indicating that she doesn't need to lift her arm away. Sammy smiles faintly and keeps it there.

**There's a time that I remember when I never felt so lost-- when I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop.**

Brooklynn is scrolling through her photos, smiling as she relives happy memories of filming bloopers with friends. Suddenly, her finger pauses, lifted over a new image that differs from the rest. It's a screenshot of some of the worst hate comments she's received. She's confused-- why's it there?-- until it all comes rushing back: _A particularly bad evening. Losing followers, almost crying. She screenshots the comments that hurt the most-- she's not even sure why. Maybe she wants to keep them for later, so she can show them to someone in case she's feeling worse. Nobody ends up seeing them but her._ Brooklynn stares at the image, remembering the heartbreak that these brutal words caused her. Hours wasted on some jerks in front of a screen. She's surprised to find that she feels glad, almost elated to put this behind her. She doesn't have to worry about them anymore, because they all think she's dead. Maybe they're even guilty about having written out all those hate comments. Brooklynn can't be sure, but it's so freeing not to have to care about them anymore.

 **Now my heart feels like an ember and it's lighting up the dark.** **I'll carry these torches for you that you know I'll never drop.**

Darius suddenly stands up. His eyes are filled with tears of grief, but his heart is steady with a steely resolve. Because he's just decided something. His dad never got to experience Jurassic World, but he did-- at least for a day. And he isn't going to stop there. He's going to honor his dad by experiencing everything they planned together, in his own way, with his friends by his side. 

But he needs all his friends to be able to do that.

"Guys, we're going back for Ben."

**...And the memories bring back you.**


End file.
